Washington jobless rate falls to 4.8 percent; Greene stays at 3.9
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Washington County’s unemployment rate dropped one-tenth of a percentage point in December, while Greene’s remained the same.
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry released seasonally adjusted figures Tuesday, listing Washington County’s rate at 4.8 percent and Greene’s at 3.9. Each county’s figure was significantly lower than the previous December, when Washington had 6.2 percent unemployment and Greene 5.5.
The positive local trend on jobs continued in December. Washington was below the national rate (5.6 percent) and matched the state (4.8) jobless figure, while Greene was well below both sets of numbers.
Washington has been under the U.S. rate for 22 of the past 23 months and at or below Pennsylvania’s figure for at least the past 27 months. Greene has been below both sets of numbers for at least the past 27 months.
Washington is one of seven counties in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 4.6 percent jobless rate in December, a 0.2 percent drop from November. The MSA also includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette and Westmoreland.
Butler (4.3) had the lowest figure and Fayette (5.9) the highest in the MSA. Of the seven counties, only Washington and Allegheny experienced a drop in joblessness in December. (Allegheny fell from 4.6 to 4.5.)
The December MSA rate was down 1.6 points from 12 months earlier.